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Say it Loud, Say it Proud..."we're number...what?"

Did any of you run into the street shouting, “Hey everybody, we're number 86” when U.S. News and World Report recently issued their university rankings?

DU improved two places and ranks as the 86th best university behind the likes of the University of Delaware, the University of Florida, and the University of California Santa Cruz! Even Cal schools in Irvine, Santa Barbara, San Diego and Davis fared better than DU. Makes you wonder why so many Californians come out here to get dumbed-down. Maybe they want to see how the other half thinks.

According to U.S. News, their ranking methodology is great because a “common data set has been a collaborative effort between publishers and higher education officials that has improved the quality and accuracy of information provided by colleges and made available to consumers...blah, blah, blah." Anyway, they seem to have found some universal standard for placing institution of higher learning in proper order.

Our local engineering powerhouse Colorado School of Mines (#75) is tied with Clark University (#75). Yes, Clark University! What is a Clark University? I wouldn’t trade places with Mines.

4 comments:

Clark is a small liberal arts university located close to Boston, Mass. Don't knock it. It has always had a great reputation for attracting very bright students. Kids who apply to Amherst, Tufts, and Williams are similar to Clark applicants.

U.S. News had a separate category for liberal arts. In fact, our brothers to the south, Colorado College, were ranked #25. I agree with your point, Clark may be a great liberal arts college and should be recognized accordingly but #75 in the University rankings?

It's very hard to move up significantly in these rankings, as other top schools need to falter to make room. There are over 2,000 4 year schools in the USA, so being in the top 100 puts DU in the top 5% nationally, and it's top 2% if you also include the 2,500 two-year schools.

DU has now pushed into the bottom of the very elite US applicant pool. Fully 40% of the incoming freshmen this year had 4.0 GPAs, and the average GPA was 3.7, so the kids who do come to DU typically have many other elite school options. DU needs to accept 75% of its applicants in order to just fill the freshmen class, as about 15% of the accepted students actually enroll here. That said, Some 20,000 applicants applied here last year, a record level, and most of those applicants get into elite schools.